32

patrons

Hi, my
name’s Otter - welcome to my Patreon!

I’m the author of two transfeminist, speculative fiction
novels: Margins and Murmurations
and Conserve and Control.
As a working class trans woman, and an activist for nearly two decades, my
work has a voice that is rarely heard, and I am so proud to be creating
radical new writing towards a less oppressive world.

Writing is a huge commitment and I love every
second of it. I’m also financial precarious which makes it hard to balance it with the work I do for survival. If you've loved my writing so far and want me to
keep creating, becoming a Patreon supporter will make it happen.

You’ll become part of a unique community coming together to create this work.

With pledges over $5, you’ll gain full access to my online writing course, Murmurs of Resistance: Writing from the Margins, with new classes every two weeks.

With pledges over $10, you'll gain full access to my online trans-competency course for holistic therapists.

You’ll get regular updates on my work and some sneak-peeks on the creative projects I’m working on

Murmurs of Resistance:Writing from the Margins

Writing can
be a powerful tool for change. The stories of our culture tell us so much about
the world and how we should live in it, but unfortunately, it’s a tool too often dominated by
privilege. Those of us at the margins don’t see ourselves reflected in the
stories of our culture and we’ve never been
told that we have anything worth telling.

This course
is to get you to write. To write your stories. To create beautiful characters
that you’ve always
wanted in the world. To write for yourself or for others and to share, when you’re ready, even if it’s just between you and your laptop.

Classes are
uploaded every two weeks in audio and pdf (including a printer-friendly version) on Teachable. I’m offering them
on a sliding scale for all patrons who pledge over $5 a month (recommended
tiers are $5, $10 and $15). If this course sounds useful to you but you can’t afford to pledge, I’m happy to share it with you, no
questions asked. Just get in touch.

Complementary healthcare can be a lifeline for the trans community. Yet, as with traditional healthcare, there are often barriers in accessing this support.

This course is designed for bodyworkers and holistic therapists, herbalists, yoga teachers and anyone else involved in complementary healthcare, to become more aware of the issues trans folk face and to make practices safer and more accessible for this community.

I’m offering it on a sliding scale for all patrons who pledge over $10 a month (recommended tiers are $10, $15 and $20). Feel free to end your pledge any time but I'd ask you to continue for as long as my work has value to you.

I'm also offering a live consultation connected with this course to build an action plan for your clinic, service or class (available separately, email for details)

As a trans woman, gender and sexuality have
always been at the centre of my writing and I’ve been creating stories and
political articles that reflect my intersections for as long as I can remember.
I’m also a trained ecologist and environmental activist, so themes of ecocide
and connecting with more-than-human nature have inevitably emerged in my work.

Trans
people live gender in a way that others can never truly understand. Exploring
gender, sex and sexuality is as normal for many of us as breathing, or
dreaming, and just as essential to our survival. In my novels, I let this
exploration run free, allowed myself to create characters who until now have
been invisible or written by people without lived experience. Almost by an
impulse I cannot seem to avoid, writing has also become activism.

Working
with LGBT Books to Prisoners last year, we crowdfunded to send copies of the
novel to trans women in US prisons, to raise awareness of their situation and
to provide some well-needed solidarity. That work lead to the creation of Books
Beyond Bars UK, a similar project in the UK. Touring with the novels continues
to create new networks and connections. Honestly, it’s everything I dreamed of.

Money
I have no financial support except my own hard
work. This often means I have to choose between cash work and writing work.
Invariably, survival comes first and writing projects get delayed. I believe in
the writing that I’m producing, and I’m encouraged by the feedback I’ve been
getting from people who have connected with it; but, ultimately, I still need
to pay the bills.

This work does need to come out into the world.
There needs to be more speculative fiction with better representation, more
narratives of resisting ableism and racism, cis-sexism and classism and more
realistic experiences of survival in a world that hates anyone at the margins.

As a person with a complex experience,
surrounded by supportive communities of people who help produce this work with
me, I’m in a unique position to tell some of these stories. I hope I’ll have
the opportunity to keep doing just that.

P.S.: By becoming a Patreon you are giving me permission to
share just first name and email address with Teachable and Mailerlite so I can give
you access to my course. Thank you!

Goals

32 of 50 patrons

I bring a marginalised voice to my writing, but this also means that I have no external source of income, no financial support except my own hard work and this often brings me to the difficult decision between cash work and writing work. Invariably, survival comes first and writing projects get delayed.

With 50 patrons I would still be doing a lot of paid work to pay the bills, but I could dedicate much more time to my creative work writing about class, transgender, femininity, activism and the environment.

1 of 2

Hi, my
name’s Otter - welcome to my Patreon!

I’m the author of two transfeminist, speculative fiction
novels: Margins and Murmurations
and Conserve and Control.
As a working class trans woman, and an activist for nearly two decades, my
work has a voice that is rarely heard, and I am so proud to be creating
radical new writing towards a less oppressive world.

Writing is a huge commitment and I love every
second of it. I’m also financial precarious which makes it hard to balance it with the work I do for survival. If you've loved my writing so far and want me to
keep creating, becoming a Patreon supporter will make it happen.

You’ll become part of a unique community coming together to create this work.

With pledges over $5, you’ll gain full access to my online writing course, Murmurs of Resistance: Writing from the Margins, with new classes every two weeks.

With pledges over $10, you'll gain full access to my online trans-competency course for holistic therapists.

You’ll get regular updates on my work and some sneak-peeks on the creative projects I’m working on

Murmurs of Resistance:Writing from the Margins

Writing can
be a powerful tool for change. The stories of our culture tell us so much about
the world and how we should live in it, but unfortunately, it’s a tool too often dominated by
privilege. Those of us at the margins don’t see ourselves reflected in the
stories of our culture and we’ve never been
told that we have anything worth telling.

This course
is to get you to write. To write your stories. To create beautiful characters
that you’ve always
wanted in the world. To write for yourself or for others and to share, when you’re ready, even if it’s just between you and your laptop.

Classes are
uploaded every two weeks in audio and pdf (including a printer-friendly version) on Teachable. I’m offering them
on a sliding scale for all patrons who pledge over $5 a month (recommended
tiers are $5, $10 and $15). If this course sounds useful to you but you can’t afford to pledge, I’m happy to share it with you, no
questions asked. Just get in touch.

Complementary healthcare can be a lifeline for the trans community. Yet, as with traditional healthcare, there are often barriers in accessing this support.

This course is designed for bodyworkers and holistic therapists, herbalists, yoga teachers and anyone else involved in complementary healthcare, to become more aware of the issues trans folk face and to make practices safer and more accessible for this community.

I’m offering it on a sliding scale for all patrons who pledge over $10 a month (recommended tiers are $10, $15 and $20). Feel free to end your pledge any time but I'd ask you to continue for as long as my work has value to you.

I'm also offering a live consultation connected with this course to build an action plan for your clinic, service or class (available separately, email for details)

As a trans woman, gender and sexuality have
always been at the centre of my writing and I’ve been creating stories and
political articles that reflect my intersections for as long as I can remember.
I’m also a trained ecologist and environmental activist, so themes of ecocide
and connecting with more-than-human nature have inevitably emerged in my work.

Trans
people live gender in a way that others can never truly understand. Exploring
gender, sex and sexuality is as normal for many of us as breathing, or
dreaming, and just as essential to our survival. In my novels, I let this
exploration run free, allowed myself to create characters who until now have
been invisible or written by people without lived experience. Almost by an
impulse I cannot seem to avoid, writing has also become activism.

Working
with LGBT Books to Prisoners last year, we crowdfunded to send copies of the
novel to trans women in US prisons, to raise awareness of their situation and
to provide some well-needed solidarity. That work lead to the creation of Books
Beyond Bars UK, a similar project in the UK. Touring with the novels continues
to create new networks and connections. Honestly, it’s everything I dreamed of.

Money
I have no financial support except my own hard
work. This often means I have to choose between cash work and writing work.
Invariably, survival comes first and writing projects get delayed. I believe in
the writing that I’m producing, and I’m encouraged by the feedback I’ve been
getting from people who have connected with it; but, ultimately, I still need
to pay the bills.

This work does need to come out into the world.
There needs to be more speculative fiction with better representation, more
narratives of resisting ableism and racism, cis-sexism and classism and more
realistic experiences of survival in a world that hates anyone at the margins.

As a person with a complex experience,
surrounded by supportive communities of people who help produce this work with
me, I’m in a unique position to tell some of these stories. I hope I’ll have
the opportunity to keep doing just that.

P.S.: By becoming a Patreon you are giving me permission to
share just first name and email address with Teachable and Mailerlite so I can give
you access to my course. Thank you!